Why Earthquakes in China Are So Damaging﹕from The Atlantic (http://www

.theatlantic.
com/china/archive/2013/07/why-earthquakes-in-china-are-so-damaging/278092/)

In the aftermath of another major tremor, lax enforcement of building codes remains a serious problem in the country.
另一次大地震的後果之一是執行不力的建築法仍舊是國家嚴峻的問題。

China's unfortunate streak of major earthquakes has continued. On Monday, a tremor measuring 6.6 on the Richter scale struck near the city of Dingxi, a mid-sized city (by Chinese standards -- it still has 2.7 million people) in impoverished Gansu Province.
中國不幸的仍繼續經歷嚴重地震。 星期一﹐一個里氏6.6級的地震襲擊定西(Dingxi)附近﹐它是個位於窮困甘肅省的中型都市 (以中國的標準而言﹐它仍有人口2百7十萬) 。

As of this writing, 94 people have lost their lives in the quake, and more than 1,000 are injured. The quake has affected over 120,000 people and will undoubtedly cost millions of dollars in reconstruction fees.
正當寫此文時﹐已有九十四人在地震中失去了生命﹐同時超過一起千人受傷。 此次地震有十二萬人受影響﹐毫無疑問的重建費用將所費不資。

Devastating earthquakes are a global phenomenon, as anyone in Indonesia, Haiti, or Japan can tell you. But China has experienced more than its fair share of earthquake tragedy; according to this list of the world's 10 deadliest earthquakes, the two highest-casualty ones of all time -- and three overall -- happened in China.
任何在印尼(Indonesia)﹑海地(Haiti)﹑或是日本的人都能告訴你﹐毀滅性的地震是個全球現象。 但是中國卻經歷了超過她該有的地震悲劇；根據世界十大致死地震榜單﹐歷來兩次最高傷亡及三次最高整體損失發生在中國。

Given the immutable laws of plate tectonics, the chances that an earthquake will again inflict China in the near future is high. What, then, are the reasons for China's high number of fatalities -- and, more importantly, what does the government have to do to minimize this number in the future?
地球板塊定律不會變的情況下﹐近日中國遭受地震的機會依然很大﹐此後中國傷亡居高不下的理由又是什麼?  同時﹐更重要的是政府未來要如何做來使傷亡極小化?

The first reason has to with some simple, irreversible facts: China has a lot of people -- and a lot of earthquakes.  But in addition to being the most populous country in the world, China also is extremely dense -- at least 90 percent of the country's 1.3 billion people live in the eastern half of the country, and the coastal provinces are especially crowded.
第一個理由是個簡單無法逆轉的事實︰中國有大量的人口及多發的地震。 做為全球最多人口的國家﹐再加上中國人口的密度極其大 --- 國家至少十三億人的百分之九十居於國家的東半部﹐沿海諸省尤其擁擠。

Fortunately for China…

有人說﹐中國地震的增加及轉烈是與三峽大壩的建成有關係﹐這種說法是著眼於三峽大壩可怕的重量而造成附近板塊的不穩定﹐因而…

近年來﹐島內因經濟因素﹐人們對自然資源毫無止境的假借開發之名而行掠奪之實﹐因而造成次生災害或災害的增加與規模﹐該是大力做一做環保的時候了。

哦﹗對了﹗打了水泥格子及擋土牆的山坡地能不算是環保工程?